Yakima or Thule

[leadandsteel]

Thule and Yakima accessories both now work on each others cross bars. If you have the locks and crossbars and I guess a few old accessories for the yakima then I’d try to get the feet or factory roof rack adapter for the round bars and build from there. I have yakima only because the thule surfboard rack is a POS the will dent the side of the board. I bought the Yakima stuff long before they were cross compatible. I recently purchased a yakima bike rack for the top of the truck only because I have a down hill bike that never fit right in my friends Thule. I also like the round bars because of less road noise. Thule has “aero bars” now so there is that. I’ve had the Yakima on five cars in the past ten years and every time I look to see what company has the feet or adapter for the car/truck yakima fits with a cleaner look and a better fit. But really I bought the yakima for the surfboards and have had so much old yakima stuff that changing over now is just silly.

[DaveK]

I have a Thule rack on my wife’s car and really like it. It’s simple to use and extremely secure, and I like the way the aero bars look up there.

Enough about that.

What are you getting?!

[Geoff]

My wife’s car has a Thule roof rack, mine has a Yakima. Both have the bike holder (right word?) that uses a strap on the rear wheel and a bar to lock / support the front wheel.
1) I like the rear wheel strap on the Thule better than the Yakima. Thule locks down more securely.
2) We have gone much longer distances with my wife’s car (SUV) than mine (subcompact. I use the bike more than the car, don’t need much). The front wheel holder on the Thule doesn’t hold the wheel quite as securely as needed – the wheel has twice bounced out of the tray. We strap the front wheel now. Haven’t had a problem with the Yakima, maybe because it hasn’t been used nearly as much.

On balance, I like Thule better.

[KWL]

The answer to your question is “yes”.

[Sunyata]

I have three Yakima racks on the roof of my Subaru. I have two Frontloaders and and standard fork mount rack. I have not had any issues with them and LOVE the Frontloaders for their ease of use and durability. I have had them for going on five years now and had not had any issues with any of them. The fork mount rack is a PITA, mostly because only one of my bikes has a quick release (and it is the one I use the least often, my road bike), so I have to deal with carrying around different size thru-axle adapters.

My significant other has Thule racks and has been satisfied with them, but he likes my Frontloaders a lot better than his Thule racks.

[Author]

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